Abstract
Five experiments investigated the relative prevalence of three search patterns that individuals may use in explaining events with multiple possible causes: (1) parallel search—pursue information about all possible causes before making any causal judgments, (2) serial search—clarify the role of one cause before considering any others, (3) truncated search—clarify the role of one cause without proceeding to consider other causes. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, subjects were told about an event, two or three nonexclusive possible causes of the event, and a fact implicating one of the suggested causes as influencing the event. Subjects were asked for the question whose answer would help them most in explaining the event. In each experiment, subjects preferred to clarify the role of the implicated cause, a pattern congruent with both the serial and truncated search strategies. Results of a fourth experiment indicated that these preferences reflect a truncated rather than a serial search. A final experiment demonstrated that the preference for information about the implicated cause persists even with the opportunity for a more extended search.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Fischhoff, B. Attribution theory and judgment under uncertainty. In J. Harvey, W. Ickes, & R. Kidd (Eds.),New directions in attribution research (Vol. 1). Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1976.
Hansen, R. Commonsense attribution.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1980,39, 996–1009.
Jones, E., &Davis, K. From acts to dispositions: The attribution process in person perception. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2). New York: Academic Press, 1965.
Jones, E., &McGillis, D. Correspondent inferences and the attribution cube: A comparative reappraisal. In J. Harvey, W. Ickes, & R. Kidd (Eds.),New directions in attribution research (Vol. 1). Hillsdale, N.J: Erlbaum, 1976.
Kelley, H. Attribution theory in social psychology. In D. Levine (Ed.),Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967.
Kelley, H.Attribution in social interaction. Morristown, N.J: General Learning Press, 1972. (a)
Kelley, H.Causal schemata and the attribution process. Morristown, N.J: General Learning Press, 1972. (b)
Kun, A., Murray, J., &Sredl, K. Misuses of the multiple sufficient causal schema as a model of naive attributions: A case of mistaken identity.Developmental Psychology, 1980,16, 13–22.
Major, B. Information acquisition and attribution processes.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1980,39, 1010–1023.
Schustack, M., &Sternberg, R. Evaluation of evidence in causal inference.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1981,110, 101–120.
Smith, M. Children’s use of the multiple sufficient cause schema in social perception.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1975,32, 737–747.
Snyder, M., &Swann, W. B. Hypothesis-testing processes in social interaction.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1978,36, 1202–1212.
Taplin, J. Evaluation of hypotheses in concept identification.Memory & Cognition, 1975,3, 85–96.
Taylor, S. E., &Fiske, S. T. Salience, attention and top of the head phenomena. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. II). New York: Academic Press, 1978.
Tversky, A., &Kahneman, D. Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases.Science, 1974,185, 1124–1131.
Wason, P. C., &Johnson-Laird, P. N. Psychology of reasoning. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1972.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Partial support for this research was provided by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense and was monitored by the Office of Naval Research under Contract N00014-79-C-0029 (ARPA Order No. 3668) to Perceptronics, Inc., by the Office of Naval Research under Contract N00014-80-C-0150 to Perceptronics, Inc., and by National Institute of Education Grant NIE-G-80-0091.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shaklee, H., Fischhoff, B. Strategies of information search in causal analysis. Mem Cogn 10, 520–530 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202434
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202434